


Questions

by samariumwriting



Series: Trans Claude AU [4]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: No Spoilers, Trans Claude von Riegan, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-06 02:10:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20283670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samariumwriting/pseuds/samariumwriting
Summary: Claude, when recognised as the heir of the Riegan family, wasn't recognised under that name. As such, all the people who heard about the future leader of the Leicester Alliance have a couple of unanswered questions when they meet him.





	Questions

**Author's Note:**

> This piece stands alone fairly well in the series, though elements of the first fic are referenced within (the end of this fic and the start of the first one occur at about the same time), though as always if you haven't read the others and fancy some more trans Claude content I'd very much appreciate you giving them a read!

Claude was aware, coming to the Academy, that there were people who had heard of him in a way he hadn't wanted them to. It was unavoidable; he'd met Hilda and Lorenz at social events where he'd been wearing a flower-patterned shirt (which was, to be fair, very cute, but not his preferred form of self expression).

His reputation preceded him, he supposed he could say. As probably the future leader of the Alliance, people took note when a new heir was announced. His presence indicated a major shift in power in Alliance politics, away from the rising Gloucesters and back towards the previously ailing Riegan house. That in itself had relevance for the whole of Fodlan, given Riegan territory was much more neutrally placed than the Gloucester region, which could be easily dominated by the Empire if they so wished (and if they had an army large enough).

The long and short of it was that both Dimitri and Edelgard knew of him before they met him. Except they didn't know of him. They knew of the surprise recognition of a granddaughter of the leader of the Alliance as the new heir to his estate and powers. Claude tried not to be too bothered by this fact. It was unavoidable that some people would get the wrong first impression of him. It wasn't exactly fine, and it hurt sometimes, but it was something he could fix. There was no point losing too much sleep over it.

That said...Prince Dimitri was exceptionally awkward for someone who was brought up as, well, a prince. Claude had been endlessly drilled in the last two years on etiquette, topping off his finely honed (if he did say so himself) analysis of social situations with some extra knowledge about how to approach things. Dimitri, though...he was like a fish out of water. Or maybe just someone from Faerghus outside of the snow. 

He didn't know how to talk to people he didn't know, and he definitely didn't know how to steer a conversation the way he wanted without being upfront about it. And, for some reason, Claude had recently discovered that a lot of people from Fodlan found it quite rude if you were upfront about your curiosity. Claude had...made a lot of fast enemies in his first couple of weeks at the Academy because of his needling questions that apparently weren’t welcome.

As such, Claude found himself in possibly the worst conversation he'd ever had about his gender within three weeks of arriving at the Officers Academy. Dimitri had been watching him closely for several days, holding back from approaching him, and even when he did, holding back from saying what was clearly on his mind. 

For a while, Claude thought it was just a part of the Prince and he was reading his emotions poorly. And then he started to think that maybe Dimitri wanted to ask him about something or other, or was attracted to him in some way (Claude wouldn't blame him, his uniform was rather fetching and Dimitri was at least a little bit cute so the attention was welcome).

In fact, Claude didn't work out what the real deal was until Dimitri actually started the conversation with him. "Ah, Claude," he said one day, coming up to him at the end of a class. They were missing a teacher right now, so they had to send time in larger classes than normal until they found a replacement. That meant Claude had been studying alongside Dimitri all week, and apparently the boy had finally had enough of staring at him from across the classroom. "I just wished to ask you a few questions about yourself," he said. "I imagine you are aware that you're quite the mystery?"

"Well, I'm flattered you'd say so," he replied, swinging his legs up onto the bench so he could tuck them under himself. Hey, if he was going to be there for a while he may as well make himself comfortable. "Fire away, fair prince."

Dimitri looked slightly flustered for a moment before he collected himself again. “Forgive me for intruding, and I do not mean to offend, please accept my apologies for my curiosity and stop me if I overstep-”

“I’m not bothered by questions,” he said, stopping the apologetic fountain of words before Dimitri could tie himself in a knot and never ask what he was thinking. “I’ll just make a choice on whether I answer or not. Go ahead, and don’t worry so much.”

“Thank you,” he said. “What I meant to ask was, well, when I heard of- at least, I was informed-” Claude was starting to get an idea of what he was about to be asked, but it was almost funny to watch Dimitri fumble around like this.

“What were you informed?” he asked, keeping his face and voice as neutral as possible, leaning his head onto one hand and looking directly at Dimitri.

“When I was informed of a future heir to the Riegan family, the individual in question was, well-”

“A young woman with a name I’m sure you remember?” Claude finished. Watching him try to dodge the subject was excruciating. Dimitri nodded. “Would you buy my answer being that we’re siblings and I got rid of her to claim the power for my own?”

A shadow of a frown passed over Dimitri’s face. Okay, a dislike of greed for power, noted, he wouldn’t make the joke again. “I would hope that, if that were the case, you wouldn’t joke about such a thing.”

“I don’t have any siblings,” he clarified. “And I never did. And just so you don’t have to get your cloak in a twist asking me again with different phrasing, yes, the young woman whose name I’d rather you forget is me. It’s a- misunderstanding, I suppose you could call it, between my grandfather and I.” Misunderstanding was a mild way to put it, but it worked.

“Ah, I see,” Dimitri said, though Claude was fairly confident in assuming that he probably didn’t understand. “My apologies, if I have reminded you of something you’d rather not speak of.”

“Don’t sweat it, it’s fine,” he said with a shrug. Talking about it made him feel like he didn’t belong, but it was okay. It was a barrier he had to face up to some time, and now the prince knew about it. Hopefully it didn’t cloud his view of him too much.

“Thank you,” Dimitri said, nodding to him. “I know you prefer to be seen as a man of mystery, so I appreciate you answering the question. I’ll keep your answer in mind in future.” With that, he left the classroom, leaving Claude wishing that he wouldn’t keep the answer in mind and he’d just...see him as he was, with none of that nobility nonsense.

Ah well. That was about as well as he could have expected that to go, really. No adamant refusal to see him otherwise, no excuses, no odd questions. Claude could live with that kind of response.

-

The second conversation came a week after the Professor arrived, got everyone incredibly interested in them, and picked Claude’s class. Claude was enamoured by the easy way they carried themselves and the- well, they were so up front about themselves. And no one paid it much mind.

The Professor was probably the reason for the timing of the occurrence of the second question, at least, because Claude didn’t often have the occasion to speak to Edelgard. She was a busy woman, always doing something or other, and she showed little interest in talking to him. Yet, on the evening following the Professor’s first week of teaching, she did just that.

“Claude,” she said. He acknowledged her with a little wave and a small smile. “A moment of your time?”

“Sure, princess,” he said, winking and setting his book down. Edelgard eyed the space on the wall next to him and clearly opted to remain standing. A wise decision, probably, given how much taller than her he was.

“I’d like to ask you about something,” she said. “I’d rather like a comprehensive answer, if you will, but I understand that the topic may be a little uncomfortable.”

There were only a couple of things this could be. It was only a matter of time, for example, before someone mentioned that his skin wasn’t pale like most people from Fódlan. “Do your worst,” he said.

“When I was informed of your rather convenient existence,” she began, and Claude didn’t miss the implication that maybe he wasn’t a legitimate Riegan heir, “I was given the impression you were a woman.”

“Well, clearly that’s not the case,” he said with a grin. Edelgard looked him up and down. She was a shrewd person; she’d probably already noticed. The real question was whether she was going to say anything about it.

“If that’s what you want then I have no qualms with it,” she said. “I was merely curious over your reasoning, though if you wish to stay silent I’ll just have to remain so.”

“I might answer if you ask nicely,” he said. He didn’t really want to turn this into some kind of political exchange. He wanted to keep this whole business off any political playing cards, and the best way he could do that was being honest about it. It didn’t come naturally, but it was better than a guarded conversation like this over and over again.

Edelgard paused for a few moments, and for an instant before she spoke he thought she might drop the whole conversation. “Claude, do you have the body of a woman, and if so, why do you present yourself otherwise?” 

The temptation to answer with further deflection was strong, but he resisted the urge. “Yes,” he said. “Though it’s my body, and I’m a man, so I wouldn’t call my body a woman’s. I present myself like this because it’s who I am.”

“I see,” she said, and her appraising gaze was fixed firmly on him again.

“Sorry to disappoint, if you were expecting something a little more scandalous,” he said, smiling the brightest insincere smile he could muster. Talking to Edelgard was like juggling arrows sometimes.

“Not at all,” she said. “Your honesty was rather refreshing, though I dare say it doesn’t suit you. Thank you for being so forthcoming. Have a good day.” She nodded to him and immediately walked back to the dormitories. She was a strange girl. Endlessly intriguing, but strange.

That hadn’t been too bad. Of course, he never knew what Edelgard was thinking (other than when she got all competitive; then, it was pretty obvious), so maybe she had all kinds of thoughts about this that he didn’t want her to have. But she’d seemed to take what he was saying at face value, which was good because he’d been telling the truth.

Both the future leaders of the other two nations knew now, and Ignatz and Lorenz and Hilda. Claude wondered how many times he’d have to have a different variation on this same discussion. For every person who figured it out? For the ones who were brave enough to ask? Or would there come a day when he no longer had to explain?

Claude didn’t know. He had no way of predicting the future and working it out, either. But for now, he was fine with the imperfect method of explaining it to everyone who asked. It had served him just fine so far, and each time it came up, he could further remove himself from the fresh faced sixteen year old woman his grandfather had accepted as his heir. Maybe one day, the association would vanish entirely.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! :) this was pretty fun to write and I'm hoping I got the lords down okay, they don't interact that much which can make it kinda tricky to know how they play off each other (I also haven't done Black Eagles yet so I don't know as much about Edelgard as I do about the lads). If you're so inclined, please leave a comment, the response to this series has been fantastic and it's really motivating me to write waaaaay more than I normally do (but rip my 3000 word summer essay lmao)!


End file.
